From the work that has been done in the packaging or cartoning industry, there has been very little development with respect to providing a single cartoning apparatus capable of carrying out the various operations required in a cartoning process. These operations are generally carried out by a plurality of independent machines which function well on their own but are difficult to marry together due to their independent nature. Two prime considerations in the packaging industry are the minimizing of labor required to operate the packaging machinery and the maximizing or making best use of available floor space. The present use of a plurality of individual machines does not produce these desired objectives since each machine takes up more space than necessary and requires supervision for its operation.
Two operations in a cartoning process, which have proved to be difficult in the past to incorporate into a complete system are the set-up of heavy duty carton blanks as well as the closure of the carton. With respect to the former stiff rigid carton blanks stored as flats, they were often opened by hand in preparation of filling. In regards to the latter, a taped closure has received wide acceptance in the packaging industry, but the taping operation again requires the use of labor to not only apply the tape to the carton, but also to measure out the amount of tape required.
The present invention overcomes many of the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a cartoning apparatus adapted to perform a plurality of cartoning operations. The opening of flat carton blanks, a conveyor for advancing the opened carton blanks along the apparatus, and closure means downstream of the set-up station for closing the bottom and/or top of the carton. In cases where the carton is prepared for filling at a later stage, only the bottom closure is made with the top of the carton being left open for later closure. In cases where the entire packaging process is carried out on one apparatus, the apparatus includes both the bottom and top closure means.
The closure means includes both folding and taping apparatus and is adapted to not only automatically apply the required amount of tape to each carton, but to also supply the tape in a manner such that a consistent length of tape is applied along the folded portion of the carton and extends around each carton end wall. In order to provide this effective closure, the taping apparatus includes means for applying a strip of tape to the bottom of folded carton flaps and extending between adjacent spaced apart cartons, and a plunger member for plunging between the cartons to sever the extended strip of tape and to apply the thusly provided free tape ends to the opposing end wall of the adjacent cartons to complete bottom closure.